Boeing 737 carrying 132 people crashes in China's Guangxi region
Highlights
- Aircraft 5735 of China Eastern Airlines crashed in southern China's region Guangxi.
- The flight was carrying 133 passengers.
- The flight had taken off from Kunming and was en route to Guangzhou.
A Chinese passenger plane with 132 people on board crashed in the southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Monday. The Boeing 737 aircraft of China Eastern Airlines had taken off from Kunming and was en route to Guangzhou when it crashed. The crash caused a fire on the mountains.
The 132 people included 123 passengers and nine crew members, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China. Rescuers have been assembled and are approaching the site. The number of casualties is not clear yet.
According to news portal The Paper, a staff member at Guangzhou's Baiyun International Airport said that flight MU5735 from Kunming to Guangzhou has not arrived at its destined time, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.
The domestic flight was scheduled to take off from Kunming at 1.10 pm (local time) and arrive at Guangzhou at 2.52 pm (local time) and is now marked ôout of reachö on Baiyun airport's app.
Following the accident, videos and pictures purporting to come from the scene started circulating on social media showing smoke billowing from a hillside and wreckage on the ground. China Eastern is one of China's three major air carriers.
China's airlines had recorded over 100 million continuous hours of safe flight as of February 19, according to Zhu Tao, an official with the Civil Aviation Administration, the Post reported. The last domestic fatal incident was in 2010, when a plane crashed in Yichun, Heilongjiang province, killing 42 people.
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